So since we moved out of the Elmwood Strip area I have been taken cabs a little more often. When the meter is running, it is about $15 from our house to going out on Allen with Tip. Well last night the cab driver picked Steve up and then came to get us and told Steve it would be $5 to get to our house (Steve lives like 4 blocks away). They negotiated a flat rate of $15 for the whole ride from Steves to our house to Allen. Seemed reasonable but weird that they weren't using the meter.

Then on the way home with Dave and Casey they did the same thing and we told them the route and they said it would be a flat $15 . After we dropped Casey off and they had to go to our house the cabbie was like"now it's $20" which we made lcear there were two stops when he made the $15 deal. Anywho, Dave was just like "um no we take taxis all the time , we are only paying $15" and the cab driver was like "ok no problem".

It was all very strange. I really think I rather have the meter on. I don't understand why this is happening all of a sudden. They were regular taxis with meters in them , just not being used. Very very strange.

My guess is that the cab driver doesn't report the fares when the meter isn't running. Taxi drivers in Baltimore are shysters, who will drive you all around the city running up the fare if you don't know where you're going. They're probably the same way in Buffalo too.

This is hilarious! Its so true. Those All American things that everyone has fond memories of, we weren't allowed to eat either. When i did, they were so disappointing; Pop Tarts, Those Hugs drink things, Fruit Loops, all gross.

I have never had hamburger helper and I always felt like I was really missing out on something by never having it. Well the other day I had a coupon and Dave is at his grandfather's today so I decided to make it. First of all, who knew there were like 100 varieties to chose from. There's tuna, chicken, hamburger. But I wanted the hamburger , the original, the grand pooba of helpers. I did get the three cheese variety though which I don't think was the first.

I have had people tell me I am going to love it and others saying I am going to hate it. Well I just ate it and it's ok. I liked it , but it wasn't everything I dreamed it to be. I really thought it was going to be one of my new favorite things but it's definitely not that. I probably wont' make it again any time soon but may make it sometime in the future.

All in all I am now a proud member of the American public who has had Hamburger Helper!

So me and (e:libertad) wanted a folding table for my craft laundry/craft room . (though to be honest should you really fold laundry in a room filled with glitter?) Anywho we found the table we wanted on staples.com and it was on sale for like $55 with free shipping. That seems like an easy transaction right........WRONG!!!!

Here is the whole sordid tale from initial delivery date of December 11th to January 2nd with a lot of yelling and craziness in between... I warn you its long and I tell it better in person but I wanted this documented so I never forget to never order from Staples again.

So we order the table and the delivery email they send me says it is being shipped on Dec. 11. I didn't think that meant it would come to my house on 12/11 but it did. I wasn't home and they didn't leave it......now you see they don't use FedEx or UPS or USPS they use their own service which it turns I think is nothing mroe than a few men and a wheelbarrel.....anywhoser so I wasn't home on 12/11 and so they left the little taggy thing I could leave on the door but then I got a phone message saying I wasn't home so it wouldn't be delivered until 12/19.....

12/19 was fine , I was in no rush for the table but then instead they came again on fri 12/12 , well I wasn't home again and hadn't left the tag out since they said they weren't coming until 12/19 and we heard our nieghbors (who have since moved) steal packages so i didn't really want to advertise for a week that a package was coming. So I got another call friday night saying since i wasn't home it won't be delivered until 12/19. Once again that was fine.............but no...theycome to deliver again on monday 12/15...well of course I wasn't home and had not left the tag because they had said 12/19.

To make it worse then I get a call on monday 12/15 at night saying since I wasn't home my order was being returned to the warehouse. So i called and some lady answered and said she would check into it but the delivery service was close and she would call me back the next day....well she was the first of many staples employees who never called me back...she didn't call me tuesday and then wednesday I did the online chat with them so at least I would have a record.

Now Wed 12/17 on an online chat tey apologized for all the confusion and gave me a $10 refund and said the table would be there Friday 12/19 for sure. ....12/19 comes and there is no table! So i do the online chat again on Friday night and they tell me they don't know what happened but it looks like the table got on the wrong truck but it will defintiely be there by monday 12/22. Now mind you it was like 9pm on Friday night that night and I asked so it is coming on monday and he kept saying by Monday and I asked if they deliver on the weekend and he kept saying no so I wasl ike so it is coming on MOnday and he would not say that, he only kept saying by Monday but not on the weekend which leaves only Monday.....

...anywho Monday 12/22 comes and still no table....Tuesday 12/23 I do the online chat again and they tell me they have no idea what has happened and they can't figure it out but they will give me another $10 off and it will be there 12/24. Instead of $10 off , they send me a $10 coupon for another purchase , I insist that is not the same thing and i get in an argument with the guy that $10 off a future purchase is not the same thing as $10 of my current table. Plus I was like um i am never making a future purchase but I want my $10 now. They couldn't do it on the online chat and said I had to call an dtalk to a supervisor. So I call and talk to a supervisor and tell her my whole story and she gives me the $10 and apologizes and tells me it will be there maybe 12/24 but if not 12/26 (even though the previous person insisted there is no reason it would be there 12/24)...

...well no table 12/24, 12/26, or Monday 12/29... So I call Monday night and talk to someone named Liza and she goes through this whole thing and apologizes and is like no I have idea what happened, looks like the wrong box waso n the wrong truck or something but it is definitely coming Tuesday 12/30 and they will call the delivery service in the mroning to ensure it and if it isn't coming for any reason the supervisor Mandy will call me .....well not call on Tuesday and no table

OOOOH Mind you I have had the stupid tag saying they can leave on the porch taped to my door since 12/18 at this point.

So Tuesday night I call and I really kinda lose it at that point. I get ahold of a supervisor named Bonnie oh and I was calling from work and kinda screaming which is not super classy but it was funny becasue after that everyoen at work was very invested in my table and me getting my table.....so Bonnie the supervisor said she had to check and would call me back. I refused to hang up because I told her I did not believe she would actually call me back...she emailed me her info and so once i had that I said fine she could call me back

She called me back a little later and said she called the delivery service and they weren't there but she woudl ensure it came the next day and she also was off the next day 12/31 and her offie was closed but she gave me the extension for another supervisor who would be there and I coudl call in the mroning and ensure it was coming..Bonnie actually seemed like the first person who was even somewhat helpful. Then an hour later I get a call saying my order has been cancelled and refunded!! I WAS LIEK WHAT THE F but wanted to call the next day when the person who knew my story was there.

....12/31 I call the number Bonnie gave me and it just rings and rings and rings. I was at work so I just let it ring for like a half hour and finally someone picks up and is "Hi this is jamie who are you trying to reach, this phone has been ringing for a half hour. I explained my whole story and said I was [planning on letting it ring for days if that's what it took for someone to answer." Anyway Jamie explained noone was in the office as it was closed and she just happened to be there and answeredt the phone but no one named Gila the name of the supervisor I was given was there......

AT THIS POINT I FREAK THE F OUT. I CALL the regular customer service line (oh and remeber i am at work now ) and noone has ever heard of Gila or BOnnie even though I have bonnie's email address and extension. I FLIP THE F OUT AND START SCREAMING in the middle of my office "IS THERE EVER A TABLE! WAS THERE EVER A FREAKIN TABLE< WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE" DO YOU EVEN DELIVER TABLES! and so on an dso forth. I guess like the vice president in his office across the office could hear me but eveyrone found it hilarious I think.

The new supervisor Vicki says she can'treally do anythign because my order was cancelled by Raymond but he didn't leave any notes as to why. She then said they had treid to deliver it like a hundred times but I was never home. I lost it again and basicallys creamed "I HAVE HAD THE STUPID FLIER SAYING YOU CAN LEAVE ITON MY DOOR FOR 12 DAYS STRAIGHT AT THIS POINT!!!". She said she could place the order again and i said fine but I want it at the price i got it minus the $20 I had been refunded so far. She said she would charge the full price but it was the same thing because I already had been refunded $10 twice and when they cnacled my order they refunded the full price of the table. I said fine .....I hung up....got the invoice from them and that is not what happened at all. The table was now costing me $10 more than original and was now 20 days after the original delivery date.

I coudl nto handle calling another person at Staples. I even googled the warehouse with at my parents on NYE and we discussed a plan of like raiding the warefhouse and liberating my table but in the end I wrote Bonnie an email since I had her contact info explaining the whole thing.

She wrote back the next day and apologized profusely and said she doesn't know why the other supervisor was there and said my table woudl come 1/2 for sure and she refunded me the full price of the table and gave me a $20 voucher for the future for staples. I wrote back and said I wouldn't thank her until the table was actually in my physical possession.

ON 1/2 I FINALLY GOT MY TABLE AND I LOVE IT AND NOW IT WAS FREE SO THAT WAS NICE!

BOnnie was really the only competent person at Staples. I sent an email to her supervisor telling her my whole story and that Bonnie was the only good employee they had in the whole company and she should be grateful to have her.

SO now I actually have like $40 in staples vouchers in addition to the free table but really stil never ever want to order from there again. Except I kinda wanna order like a pencil a day just to make them deliver it....

I know you are thinking, why didn't you just canncel the ordero n like day 10 and save yourself the time and frustration but by then it seemed like it was more about the principal > I wanted them to give me the table i watned. I didn't want to have to have went through like half of that and then still have to go buy a mroe expensive table elsewhere. And in the end I won...welle xcept it probably was about 5 hours of time at least total in talking to staples Customer Serviceless line. I still feel like I won!

So I've been stressed in life lately for many a reason BUT THEN I had a hard time falling asleep last night and finally fell asleep around 1am and then at a little before 4am wake up to the sound of GLASS BREAKING AND OUR ALARM GOING OFF!!! NEedless to say I freaked out like whoa. Dave jumped in front of the bedroom door to hold it closed while I called 911. Then the alarm people called and we told them that we thought someone was in the house.

Then...Dave decided he was going to check out the situation...and it turns out the christmass tree just fell down and some glass ornaments shattered setting off the glass breaking sound alarm.

The police arrived within minutes which was really a nice and somewhat shocking surprise. Like a few cop cars showed up and even after I said it was the tree that fell over , he offered to search the house if I wanted (which I did but I know Dave would have prolly killed me if I had the police search the house because the tree fell over). Anywho, we had to pick up and cleanup and surprisingly few ornaments broke.

But now I am terrified and it is too close to 7am when I get up so now I am just staying up so I guessl ike 2 hours of sleep is all I'm getting tonight. I ended up getting some work done (oh the joys of being able to work from home so any free moment feels like it should be spent doing work). But now I am really scared of the poltergeist I thought was inthe house. Dave said the tree was leaning and it is not the poltergeist but frankly I can totally belive that but in general it just makes way more terrified. Like I still feel like i am gonna turn a corner and there is going to be a ghost or a robber there.

Also, we were debating if the alarm makes us feel safer or more scared.I feel safer, like i felt good because I did feel if somoene was in the house they would have left because of the alarm. I also like that if I didn't' have my phone for some reason the alarm company would still call 911. But on the toher hand, we both heard the glass smash and that woke us up first followed a second later by the alarm screeching. We debated if we just heard the glass break we might have thought christmas tree and then go look and not freak out but the alarm makes you really freak out. BUUUT I tihnk i would have freaked out the same alarm or not but I don't know. I think I am pro keeping the alarm and the glass break sensor.

Overall I am glad for the sensor and the police response but I am terrified and may never sleep again. I really was always nervous the police don't actually show up in Buffalo. Especially now that i live in a little more sketch neighborhood. I know they would prolly respond in Elmwood Village but I wasn't sure over here but really they were here really fast and were really friendly even after finding out it was just two crazy gays and a christmas tree accident.

On the upside, I hope you find it reassuring to know the police will respond quickly. I'd keep the alarm, because it would be terrible if the next time was for real, and you found yourself helpless to do something about it. You'd really be hating on yourself knowing that you USED TO have an alarm system. Anyway, I am happy for you that this turned out to be nothing but a minor inconvenience.

Let's suppose you are not home for the holidays. Perhaps you are at a "friend's" house who has mainly just asked you to their house because they were overcome by pity and you see that tablecloth. How terrible is that. Oh, you are not home for the holidays. You unhappy freak?

Or maybe you are home for the holidays but you are having the customary stress-fight of your life with your family and there is this smug tablecloth rubbed in your face. Oh! isn't this happy?

So I don't really believe in ghosts though I also don't not believe in them. Anywho, some weirdo stuff has been going on in our new house. All taken separately , seem like no big deal but I swear more and more keeps happening and only to me and never to Dave. So here's what's happened.

1. There are always crazy noises like people walking around and doors opening and closing but I know old houses do that so that I could get over on its own.

2. At the top of the stairs is the guest room. I swear the door opens and closes. I have opened it and then when I went back up it was closed and I have pulled it closed so it latched and then went back up and it was open and noone else was home at the time. Again, this could happen,coudl be the wind or uneven door but really it doesn't always do it and for it to open when I closed it freaked me out.

3. I was in the shower and the radio that is on the back of the toilet that had been there for weeks randomly fell off the toilet while I was in the shower and smashed to the ground. Once again , seen alone I could say ok it could have been unever or smoetihng or the vent blew it off even though it had been there for weeks but with everythign else it started to freak me out.

THEN THEN THEN

4. Around a week ago, I was in the living room and dave was asleep and I got up to get a piece of candy and while I was walking back to the couch , the house frmo the computer and a magazine just fall off the coffee table. There was plenty of other stuff on there , even closer to the edge and nothing else fell off.

5. A few minutes after the couch thing, the tv randomly turns off while I am nowhere near the remote.

AND THEN THE FINALE

6. Last night I go up to bed and put my cell phone on my dresser as I do every night and while I am putting on my pagamas it falls off the dresser and smashes to the ground. I think "well maybe I put it on something and it was unever or soemthing." so I put my flashlight on and make sure to put it flat in the centerish of the dresser. AND THEN.... i lay in bed and after about a few minutes it crashes to the floor again. This is the same spot I put it every day and it never falls off and nothing else around it fell to the ground so it is not like it is slanted.

All in all this is starting to freak me out. Dave read something that sometimes the poltgergeist is really your own spirit or something that is giving you weird abilities to make things move. I kinda always wanted that since I was a kid. I used to sit for hours trying to get the tissue box to move, so if that is all it is mabye it is a good thing!!? On the other hand I cannot stand to go to sleep because I am terrified right now.

Yeah I'm way behind and catching up on some things and not to scare any one but it is possible something did happen there and something is trapped there , some old houses do shift and if the house isn't completely even that could make stuff fall.... Or maybe since You and your sis both had something happen maybe someone or something is trying to get in touch with you both ......

tinypliny writes
at 10:29:08 12/02/14 - Comment #72456

Agreed. It does sound like a benign attention-seeker.

paul writes
at 07:53:41 12/02/14 - Comment #72455

They probably are cat demons for realz.

libertad writes
at 06:48:42 12/02/14 - Comment #72454

I'm not bothered unless the poltergeist starts throwing things at us or breaking our things. We should also add that my sister in law also had two encounters while she was helping us move in. We'll see what happens when she comes next! Unfortunately Paul can't come cause of the cat ghosts :( I'm so sad that he can't come over but I'll definitely exorcise the cat demons, I just need a few more gallons of holy water.

tinypliny writes
at 01:00:13 12/02/14 - Comment #72453

I suggest you spend sometime with Paul.. or better yet, I think you should have Paul, Terry and Joe come over for a few days. Poltergeists always leave when they realize people have a support network. It's like a proven thing.